Requesting recommendation

[scorn001]

Wondering if someone can recommend a shop locally that would have the equipment needed to diagnose an emissions issue.

My '99 has been going through catalytic converters for the past 3 years. Every year around inspection time, I put a new cat in, it works, I have it inspected, and within 3 weeks, the cat is dead and I get the P0420 code back. The car runs perfectly otherwise, doesn't burn oil (but does leak a small amount), plugs don't show any signs of burning oil or other discoloration, I just replace them & wires every 70k miles or so, and they show normal wear. Car gets consistent 29-33 mpg, and doesn't smoke.

The shops I know of and trust, don't have the equipment to start diagnosing this properly, and Mazda wants $1100 for starters just diagnose & replace the cat, if there are other problems, this number would of course increase....and the kicker, after spending that money, they'll only guarantee it for 12,000 miles.

Any recommendations that won't break me?

Thanks,

-Tim

[sammm]

For your neck of the woods, check with Gary at Track Dog Racing.

[trickyrix]

This might help...

LINK

[sammm]

Is the P0420 sometime caused by the bad coil pack issue in the '99's? I can't remember.

If the coil pack is bad, or partially bad, that will kill a cat over time.

[creek]

Move to a non emission county like me. East Texas rules!

[scorn001]

This might help...

LINK

I've been temped to replace the rear O2 sensor, but given the fact that after replacing the cat, everything is good, and the rear O2 sensor reads back normal readings, it tends to make me think the O2 sensor is working okay. Postmortem examination of each catalytic converter seems to back this up, the mesh inside has a reddish/brown rusty or burned look to it. I assume this is an indication that the cat is bad, but I could be wrong.

I'd really like to get a reading of what the fumes look like before the cat, to see if there is some component of the exhaust that is killing the cats. Just not sure how to do this.

[Walsted]

I have the same problem. Trying a different cat this time, (CARB compliant,) and replaced a faulty battery terminal connector. Replacing the connector seems to have helped the idle, so I guess that the electrical power may not have been up to the job of keeping the coil happy, before. None of that will probably help, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.